Internet addiction

As mentioned in my other blog posts on this site I am an information junkie. I always like to learn stuff and so when I first got the internet in the 90s I was glued to the computer screen learning information on my favorite bands, looking up what was going on in the world, and joining message boards in order to talk with people who share similar interests.

Sometimes it is really hard to pull me away from the computer. It may be I am waiting a reply to an e-mail, reloading pages on message boards to see if someone replied to me, or just an obsession to learn more about what I was thinking about that day. In fact when I can no longer think of something to obsess over I would look up websites on obsessive behavior. It is really tough sometimes to just shut off the computer and pick up a book.

Am I really an addict in the true sense of the word? Not really. I still do my walks; I still go to work; I still get done a lot of the things I need to do. In some ways it is better than watching TV all day because at least I am communicating with people on message boards, Instant Messaging, myspace, etc.

My hope is that I can learn to limit my time on the computer and not feel the need to look up every little thing that comes to mind. I need to learn to just check my favorite sites twice a day instead of on the hour. Now that I have an iPhone I find myself going online more than ever. I try to at least leave the phone at home when I walk so I am not walking into polls as a post to my favorite message boards. It would be nice if I could make an attempt to go a whole week without the internet. Of course the first thing that will happen is I will be thinking of the bills I haven’t paid online yet or I will feel the need to check my email. In the past I was successful by giving myself a certain set hours that I could be online. Maybe I should try that again sometime.